


Nightmares

by AnthemForTheBrave



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Bad Dreams, Brotherhood, Consquences, Crappy Planning, Cries of despair, Despair, Don needs a cuddle, Donatello needs some love, Donatello's Bedroom, Family Bonding, Fear, Gen, Howls of anguish, Loss of confidence, Mikey gives him one, Nightmares, Raphael is angry, SAINW, Sad Donatello, Sadness, Shitty Plan, anguish, lack of boundaries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-22
Updated: 2017-03-22
Packaged: 2018-10-09 09:09:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10408770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnthemForTheBrave/pseuds/AnthemForTheBrave
Summary: Donny's nightmares are getting out of control.This is an epilogue to the episode, Same As It Never Was. Some bits of it didn't add up. I thrashed those bits out in this fanfiction.





	

A haunting cry filled the lair as Leo slipped out of bed and circled Donatello’s door anxiously.

“He still cryin’?” Raph asked, coming out of his room and pressing his head against the door warily.

“Been doing it solidly for the past two hours,” Leo fretted as Mike opened his door and came over to join them.

“Are we going in?” Mikey asked, hearing a mournful howl coming from inside.

“I don’t know.” Leo wrung his hands. 

“Maybe we should go back to sharing one room?” Mikey volunteered. “Donny didn’t have nightmares then.”

“Don was fine until we went to that alternate dimension,” Leo pondered, greeting Master Splinter as the ancient rat glided by on his way to the kitchen for a late snack.

“Your brother is in terrible emotional pain,” Sensei said solemnly as he stopped and listened to the terrible cries. “He has seen such horrors his aura has been darkened irreparably.”

“What?” Leo cried, his voice rising in volume as panic thudded through him. “Irreparably? What the shell happened to him?”

“Have you not wondered why Donatello didn’t share the tale of his adventure with us?” Splinter questioned as another mournful cry made them all shudder.

“He kept quiet while we talked. He seemed, off.” Mikey realised.

“Yeah, Brainiac didn’t tell us anythin’.” Raph added. “Just nodded a lot.  Kept to himself, y’know?”

“He didn’t mention it at _all?_ To any of us? Even when we were alone with him?” Leo asked.

“He hasn’t been alone with any of us since it happened, Leo. He’s been working on projects and stuff around the lair.” Mikey’s face clouded with concern. “Shell, he hasn’t even been eating much. He just sits in his lab the whole time, talking to himself. He’s been putting up extra cameras and getting new security programs. I haven’t seen him, not alone.”

“Raph? Have you talked with him?” Leo asked, turning to the red banded brother who’s face was still pressed against the door.

“Na, like Mike said, he’s been hidin’ more than usual. Been keepin’ his distance.” Raph put his hand on the doorknob as a scream ripped through the lair. “That’s it, I’m goin’ in!”

Raph’s hand moulded around the doorknob and he gave it a sharp yank.

“Damn it! Don’s _locked_ it! We never lock doors!” Raph’s voice increased in volume as his anxiety crested.

“Keep quiet!” Leo said, holding out his hands to calm Raph down but the damage had been done.

Instead, a sleepy voice asked from inside the room, “guys? What’s up?”

A shuffling sound and the other turtles and Splinter stood back, waiting for the door to open.  Finally, a dazed figure appeared at the door, eyes panicked at the appearance of his entire family. “Is something wrong? Are we being attacked?”

“No, no. Nothing like _that_.” Leo looked at Raph, then over at Mikey, and finally at Master Splinter. “We’re just… a little concerned, Don. You’ve been crying out in your sleep.”

Don remained half-hidden behind the door and his shoulders sagged. “I see. Did I wake you up?”

“What the shell is going on, Donny!” Raph blustered, barging through the door and knocking Donny backwards in his wake. He paced the room like a caged tiger. “Ya get back from another dimension and you act weird as shell.  Ya scream in yer sleep like someone’s murderin’ ya.”

“I’ll take some medication to stop the dreams,” Donny said immediately. “I won’t bother you all again. I’m sorry.”

“Don. We’re not worried about you bothering us.” Mikey said and gestured for his brother to sit on the edge of the bed. “We’re worried about where you went. You scream and howl all night long. What did they do to you?”

“They didn’t gang rape ya, did they?” Raph asked in a low voice, a dangerous glint in his eye. “Swear to God, Don. If they raped ya, I’m goin’ after ‘em.”

“Calm down, Raph. I wasn’t gang raped.” Donny shook his head and closed his eyes. He seemed sad and lost. “I just didn’t want to burden you guys with this. You all had such adventures in your own dimensions and it seemed unfair to burst your bubbles.”

“Donny,” Raph warned in a low voice. “Burst that fuckin’ bubble. Now.”

Splinter nodded, his face worn with worry. “My son, please. For your own peace of mind.”

Donny sighed and looked up at Leo. The leader smiled back encouragingly, folding his arms as his brother continued. “I found myself in the lair initially. It was like our lair only old and abandoned. Like no-one had been there in years.”

Leo sat down beside Don as his voice quavered a little.

“I went topside, wanted to understand what was happening. There I was attacked by some form of police. Mikey rescued me.”

“We were in your dimension. Cool.” Mikey sat back with a smug grin. “Was I wearing my turtle titan costume?”

“You were… old. You’d lost an arm somehow. It’s why I’ve been researching prosthetics since I got back here, we’re woefully underprepared for one of us losing a limb.  You were in your forties, Mike. Brow-beaten and angry.” Donny deflated, his voice becoming weaker as he recalled the events.

“It’s okay, Donny.  You need to get this out.” Leo said.

“I have shattered memories of what happened next. I think it might be due to trauma? Some sort of PTSD? I’m not sure. I remember visiting Splinter’s grave and learning that that dimension’s Donatello had disappeared many years ago. I met with Leo and Raph. Leo was almost blind and Raph was missing an eye. The city was ruled by Shredder. It was an awful place where people were slaves to a dictator. April was fighting back in Casey’s memory…”

Raph started, looking at Donny fretfully.

“Yeah, Raph. Case was gone. He’d been killed. I convinced them to take on Shredder one last time and came up with a plan.”

Splinter glanced at Leonardo, a silent exchange passing between them.

“You came up with the plan?” Leo asked suddenly, eyes glaring. “What was I doing?”

“You were fighting with Raph, of course.” Donny ventured a smile. “It was a poor plan, Leo. Looking back, I really messed up. As a result of my weak plan, everyone was killed except for April. I watched Mikey die first, he called out my name, and I….”

A loud sob erupted and Mikey reacted by impulsively hugging Donny close.  

“It’s okay, Donny. I’m right here. Two arms and everything.” Mike pulled the distressed turtle onto his plastron and cuddled him tight. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“It was my plan!” Don wailed. “Mike went down before I could do anything to stop it.”

“That was my fault, Don. The other Leo’s fault, I mean. Not yours.” Leo said quietly. “I’m the strategist of this team, not you. It wasn’t your job to come up with a plan. It never has been and never will be.”

“I thought I could do it,” Don cried, his tears making Mikey’s plastron moist. “I was so sure I’d worked it all out. It fell apart right away and then Leo and Raph went down. It was all my fault.”

“No, my son.” Splinter reassured. “You are not a leader. That job belongs solely on Leonardo’s shoulders.”

“They followed me blindly,” Don croaked in a broken voice. “I didn’t get the chance to tell them how much it meant that they trusted me."

“It all makes sense now,” Leo said, looking up at Splinter. “Since we got back, I was wondering why we were sent to different dimensions. The three of us were having such a good time but Don was living in a nightmare.  It was a deliberate attempt to destroy Don’s confidence and mental stability.”

Don remained quiet, sniffling into Mikey’s plastron and allowing his brother’s embrace to anchor him.

“Yeah, we all got side-tracked racin’ and stuff.” Raph said. “We didn’t think that they were targetin’ Don.”

“Yeah, he’s the most valuable member of the team,” Mikey realised. “If they get to Don, the team wouldn’t work right.”

“My son, do you understand what your brothers are telling you?” Splinter leaned over the broken turtle, holding his head in a furry hand. “This was a tactic to hurt us by weakening the most valuable team-mate. They attacked your mind, showing you terrible events meant to destroy your confidence.”

“But, it happened sensei,” Donny said numbly, his eyes still watering as he processed this new information. “I was there. I saw it all.”

“Your mind is the most valuable weapon this team has.” Leo confirmed as Raph nodded his agreement. “They set you up. I personally don’t think it was a ‘real’ alternate dimension. I think they staged the whole thing to upset you. I mean, some things just don’t add up.”

“What doesn’t add up?” Donny asked, voice growing a little stronger with Leo’s new perspective.

“I’m the leader. You don’t make plans, Don. I was right there but you made the plan and we all followed it blindly. Does that sound like something I would do?  If there were flaws in the plan I would hash them out beforehand.” Leo reached out and touched Don’s hand gently. “I don’t care how many years have gone by. How disillusioned I’d become. Raph would pick it up too. He’d be all over that plan and calling me out for making you do my job.”

“He’s right.” Raph cracked a grin. “Wouldn’t let Leo get out of doin’ his job so easily. Got to be a fake world.”

“Yeah, Donny.” Mikey grinned, looking at his brother playfully. “We wouldn’t let Leo get away with that. None of us would. We’d probably use some of the plan. I bet some of it was really good, but Leo would definitely fine-tune it.”

“With the stakes so high,” Splinter added. “Your brother would not stand back. He was chosen as leader for a reason.”

“Thanks guys,” Donny said, still sniffling but growing stronger with every moment.

“Come on guys,” Mikey said, grabbing Don and hauling him to his feet. “Sleep-over in Don’s room.  No more nightmares for Don tonight.”

“Damn right,” Raph said firmly. “No more nightmares. We’ll stay in yer room till ya stop havin’ 'em. Even if it takes weeks.”

“Thanks guys,” Donny lay back down on the bed as his brothers went to their own rooms respectively and brought back some bedding. Splinter stayed with his son, sitting on the side of the bed and rubbing his brow with a furry paw.

After that night, Raph was right.

Don had no more nightmares.

**Author's Note:**

> TMNT is a trademark of the rich and powerful.  
> Not me, then.
> 
> I create stories with the characters only.  
> There is no money involved.  
> I do not get paid.  
> I am a pauper.  
> I live alone.  
> I am sad.


End file.
